More than 70 people shuffle into the underground lair, on the threshold of the 75-person capacity limit. More than a third of the crowd were members of one of the 10 bands performing.<\/p>\n
As indie artist Christina Giacoletti strummed her set\u2019s final notes, Bella Calamia and Sam Marencik of Leadpetal walked onstage as the bill\u2019s fourth act. Calamia flashed silver chains, bracelets and rings as distorted notes bellowed from her guitar. Like a crescendo, each noise grows louder, awakening the previously sleepy crowd.<\/p>\n
On cue from Marencik\u2019s bass drum kicks, Calamia shredded the opening riffs of their first song. As the raucous chords filled the air, hordes of people in leather jackets bolted down the stairs, with the door slamming behind them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Throughout the set, Calamia sprinted to both ends of the crowd, her rhinestone-engraved guitar strap dazzling at each turn. Marencik bashed her half-open hi-hat, echoing sloshy metallic sounds across the lounge.<\/p>\n
This raucous style has always been Leadpetal\u2019s signature sound \u2014 they play loud, fast and often. Now led by just Calamia on guitar and Marencik on drums, Leadpetal is a Lehigh Valley female alt-rock band that has persevered despite a rotating cast of members.<\/p>\n
![\"Leadpetal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DSC8913.jpg\")
Bella Calamia, right, plays her guitar while a crowd moshes and dances during a live performance on Feb. 27, 2026 at the FunHouse in South Side Bethlehem. Calamia co-founded the Lehigh Valley alt-rock band Leadpetal after playing a showcase at Lehigh Valley Girls Rock\u2019s Band Factory camp. (Courtesy of Derick Fiedler)<\/p>\n
Before she would perform across the Lehigh Valley, it took time before Calamia found her musical performing niche.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Through high school, she had a \u201cclassical music upbringing,\u201d she said, practicing and performing piano. Around the same time, she also tried to learn guitar, but gave up after struggling to play barre chords.<\/p>\n
After she graduated from high school, she studied education at the University of Texas at Arlington, where she discovered a new musical scene that developed into an obsession.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like music in general, I listen to all kinds of (genres),\u201d Calamia said. \u201cBut grunge, it just happened to me \u2014 I just had a connection to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
On campus, she immersed herself in grunge subculture; captivated by Nirvana\u2019s live MTV concert, \u201cUnplugged in New York<\/a>,\u201d and Alice in Chains\u2019 cameo in the film \u201cSingles.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n So when her father gifted her a guitar after she graduated from college, she had newfound motivation to give the instrument another try.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cKurt Cobain made the guitar seem so approachable,\u201d Calamia said. \u201cAfter watching (grunge shows) and seeing (that) you can make mistakes, you can be messy, it\u2019s still fun, and people will still enjoy it \u2014 it was inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n Guitar in tow, she moved to the Lehigh Valley in 2023. There, she met Becca Buhler, the former camp director for Lehigh Valley Girls Rock<\/a> \u2014 a nonprofit empowering cisgender women, nonbinary and transgender individuals through music \u2014 who was hanging up band camp flyers.<\/p>\n Calamia was hooked.<\/p>\n She enrolled in the Band Factory<\/a>, a fundraising program for LVGR<\/a> that groups strangers into bands. There, she met Grace Young, who became Leadpetal\u2019s first bassist. Alongside Emma Bockrath, the three practiced, wrote songs and performed their first live show as part of the Band Factory\u2019s camp-ending showcase.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter we played that showcase, it solidified (to me), like yes, I want to be in a band,\u201d Calamia said. \u201cThis is the only thing I really want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Bockrath would go on to pursue a career as a solo musician after that show, Calamia and Young agreed to play together after camp. The two drove to a show in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, and recruited percussion major Tarrah Bilto to be their new drummer.<\/p>\n Combining grunge influences with riot-grrrl energy, the trio took their overdriven guitars and screaming vocals on the road, traveling across dive bars and clubs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey for over a year. In April 2025, they released \u201cGlass Teeth,\u201d the group\u2019s only studio album.<\/p>\n However, in the subsequent months, Calamia was left alone. Bilto moved away; Young pursued opportunities performing in pit orchestras.<\/p>\n At that year\u2019s 610 Fest, Calamia was in attendance, but not as a performer. The following year, she said Marencik stepping up allowed her to take the stage once again.<\/p>\n And after Leadpetal ended their second song at Silk, Marencik didn\u2019t let the crowd react before slamming her crash cymbal to open the next song.<\/p>\n As Leadpetal\u2019s current drummer, Marencik has always led a musical life. She excelled as a saxophonist and studied woodwinds in college. Currently, Marencik is a general music teacher at South Mountain Middle School in Allentown \u2014 one of her dream jobs.<\/p>\n But another dream, one she kept since she was a child watching \u201cHannah Montana\u201d and playing Guitar Hero, was to be a rock star. Through her younger sister Jordan\u2019s connections to Leadpetal, that dream would come closer to reality.<\/p>\n Jordan Marencik, Sam\u2019s sister, became the band\u2019s hairstylist after a haircut appointment with Young led to regular consultations for the other two members. While working at the Eskandalo Salon in South Side Bethlehem, she also booked Leadpetal\u2019s first live show in the neighboring thrift store.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first saw (Leadpetal) perform, I just fell in love with their sound,\u201d Sam Marencik said. \u201cI was like, \u2018This is rock. I want to rock out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n And when Calamia\u2019s search to find a new drummer stalled, a determined Sam Marencik purchased a drum kit off Facebook Marketplace \u2014 the date, July 24, still circled on her calendar \u2014 and began practicing in her childhood home\u2019s basement.<\/p>\n \u201cI did not want Leadpetal to die,\u201d she said. \u201cNot on my watch (is) this band going out. Whatever I gotta do, I will do.\u201d<\/p>\n Jordan Marencik said she remembers hearing loud clanging noises downstairs that scattered the house cats. To her surprise, she saw her sister lugging a bass drum into the basement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Learning from scratch, Sam Marencik repeatedly blasted Leadpetal\u2019s music by sections and at slower speeds to comprehend the notes and rhythms of each song. Occasionally, she\u2019d watch session recordings of Bilto drumming, keenly watching her arm movements to connect drums to their corresponding sounds.<\/p>\n \u201cShe blasted Leadpetal nonstop for days,\u201d Jordan Marencik said. \u201cI think she became Leadpetal\u2019s top listener because of that short amount of time learning.\u201d<\/p>\n While she may have been surprised by her sister\u2019s basement practice sessions, Jordan Marencik said her relentless effort to learn the craft was on-brand. She said throughout life, her sister has been \u201cunstoppable\u201d in learning new skills, even completing firefighter training just to prove she could.<\/p>\n Upon receiving Sam Marencik\u2019s invite to practice, Calamia was supportive, but covertly skeptical. Yet, on the brink of giving up, her friend\u2019s efforts acted as a last-gasp sign to continue. When the two jammed, Calamia was stunned to find that she had learned every song.<\/p>\n Just a month later, as the 2025 school year began in September, South Mountain Middle School\u2019s general music teacher played her first official Leadpetal show.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even now, Sam Marencik said she\u2019s always looking to improve. At shows, she musters the courage to talk shop with other drummers regarding different sound techniques and feedback, and still hears new rhythms in Bilto\u2019s recordings. She\u2019s even incorporated stick-gestured choreography into live performances.<\/p>\n Jordan Marencik, who stands front and center for every Leadpetal gig, said she\u2019s most proud of seeing her sister grow into a charismatic and fearless performer.<\/p>\n \u201c(Bella and Sam) both get the fear of being up (onstage), and like to talk about it, especially with teaching other people getting into the community,\u201d she said. \u201cI think (Sam Marencik) is inspiring a lot of people, and inspiring Bella too.\u201d<\/p>\n The group is currently actively recruiting a bassist. Naturally, they\u2019d prefer a woman to continue their LVGR roots. Calamia, however, has never wanted to pigeonhole Leadpetal as a \u201cgirl band.\u201d<\/p>\n She believes anybody can make music in any scene. And for themselves, the two would rather let their riff-heavy sound do the talking.\u00a0<\/p>\n Concluding their set at 610 Fest, Calamia leaps onto Sam Marencik\u2019s bass drum, holding the final note. She jumps, pulls back her guitar strings and exchanges a smile with her drummer as she lands. The backdrop slowly fades to black to queue up the next act.<\/p>\n As the cheers and applause for the duo subsided to mere murmurs, all that remained were distant footsteps climbing up the stairs.<\/p>\n \t![\"Leadpetal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_7424.jpeg\")
Lehigh Valley alt-rock band Leadpetal performs a live show on Feb. 27, 2026, at the FunHouse in South Side Bethlehem. The band is led by guitarist Bella Calamia and drummer Sam Marencik, who taught herself the drums. (Courtesy of Derick Fiedler)<\/p>\n![\"Leadpetal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_8015.jpeg\")
Bella Calamia plays the final note while standing on top of drummer Sam Marencik\u2019s bass drum to close out a live performance at 610 Fest on March 27 at the Silk Lounge in Allentown. The group released one studio album titled \u201cGlass Teeth\u201d in April 2025. (Courtesy of Xuan Doan)<\/p>\n